Does not exist where min aperture falls above F5.6 with phase AF at the moment... this change will bump it up to F8. This not you setting aperture in cam, but open wide (what the cam does when assessing AF). When capturing the image, the Cam will reduce F to whatever level you chose... the limitation still is what the value is wide open.

DetailsDepending upon the shooting conditions, it may take slightly longer for the EOS 5D Mark III and EOS-1D X digital SLR cameras to acquire focus when using the Speedlite's AF Assist Beam, compared with that of the EOS 5D Mark II and EOS-1D Mark IV digital SLR cameras using the Speedlite's AF Assist Beam.

We are developing a solution to enhance the focusing feature for the EOS 5D Mark III and EOS-1D X and plan to release a firmware update based on following estimated schedule:

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., October 23, 2012 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced a new firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR camera that significantly improves the camera's performance and usability. In response to requests from professionals working in the fields of cinema and television production, the firmware update enables the use of uncompressed HDMI Output support, making possible more efficient video editing and monitoring procedures. Additionally, the upgrade supports the advanced needs of photographers through improved AF performance when capturing still images.

Even when the EOS 5D Mark III is equipped with an extender and lens making possible a maximum aperture of f/8, the firmware update supports AF employing the camera's central cross-type points (currently compatible with maximum apertures up to f/5.6). Accordingly, the update will allow users to take advantage of AF when shooting distant subjects, benefitting sports and nature photographers, particularly when using telephoto lenses.

The new firmware update will be available, at no charge, in April 2013 from the Canon U.S.A. website and can be downloaded by end users or through Canon Factory Service Centers"I just find it odd that it's left out of the press release since such a big deal was made of it.

Lowest price may not lead to the lowest TCO. The shuttle only works with SSDs while the ninja is supposed to work with spinning disks which will make media costs much lower. It would be practical to use the disks to archive camera masters. Ninja has a built in monitor, if you already have one its not an issue but if you don't and you can get by with the one on the ninja thats a savings as well. Also it remains to be seen exactly what the 5dIII will output on the HDMI. Ninja can detect the cadence on a 60i signal and record the stream as 24p. Not sure if the shuttle will be able to do that. If not you will have to de-interlace as a post process which adds time to the work flow. I was tempted by the shuttle and I already have monitors but I think I'm going to opt for the ninja after the new firmware ships and the field reports come in.

Arggh why do they always hold it every single time to the last day of the month. It would've been a cool test of external video recorders to record falling cherry/apple blossoms. April 30th will be JUST a week too late. damn can't believe they pulled that last day of the month thing again.

I guess it will be in time for the second of spring migration (f/8 AF) at least.

And it is awesome that were are getting these two upgrades (why they didn't also remove the AutoISO shutter speed crippling I have no clue though).

Arggh why do they always hold it every single time to the last day of the month. It would've been a cool test of external video recorders to record falling cherry/apple blossoms. April 30th will be JUST a week too late. damn can't believe they pulled that last day of the month thing again.

I guess it will be in time for the second of spring migration (f/8 AF) at least.

And it is awesome that were are getting these two upgrades (why they didn't also remove the AutoISO shutter speed crippling I have no clue though).

I'm glad I didn't expect it until May! I was hoping for April 30th, as usual but secretly praying for April 15th! Oh well, it's as I suspected... that's not too bad, other than migrations as you state...

I doubt that will happen, ever, due to the 5D3 design. In order for it to happen they have to take away metering speed. They already stated that the red AF points affect the metering and they dont have a way to deal with that in firmware.

They have stated that, true enough. Doesn't it seem a bit hard to believe though? Seems like there should be some type of fix or code that can be written into the firmware. Seemed odd to me when they made that statement, obviously I'm not a software, firmware, hardware engineer though, so my inability to understand the why's or why not's regarding this issue are somewhat limited I'm sure! lol!

I doubt that will happen, ever, due to the 5D3 design. In order for it to happen they have to take away metering speed. They already stated that the red AF points affect the metering and they dont have a way to deal with that in firmware.

I doubt that will happen, ever, due to the 5D3 design. In order for it to happen they have to take away metering speed. They already stated that the red AF points affect the metering and they dont have a way to deal with that in firmware.

Maybe I'm missing the point completely (wouldn't be the first time by a long shot), but illumination of the active AF points in red is already provided (Canon 5DIII instruction manual, page 103: VF display illumination).

It's true that when this function is set to either Enable (always) or Auto (only in low ambient light), the duration of the illumination is quite brief (1/4 second or so), but -- according to my VF display -- the metering is achieved (virtually) simultaneously with the illumination of the active AF points, so I don't get the "affects metering" argument.

It seems to me that a firmware update could be easily implemented to select the duration of the AF point illumination; i.e.: the brief duration currently available; 1, 2, 4, 8 seconds (just throwing out possible values here); or as long as the shutter button is depressed halfway.

Again, if I'm missing the point entirely here, I would love to be schooled. I do appreciate that metering can remain active as long as the shutter button is depressed halfway, so as to modify meter readings in changing ambient light levels during composition (i.e., passing clouds or focus/recompose). But it seems to me that an algorithm could be developed to take AF point illumination into consideration in the metering calculation, if / when the light spill from the illuminated AF points does impact metering; something like: adjust metering by x% when (count of AF points illuminated x light emitted per illuminated AF point) > y% of ambient light level of metered scene.